Royston Fields at the beginning of our ride

Well over a hundred people met at Royston Fields this morning for the annual Tour de Penge ride to Greenwich Park.   So many in fact that we had to split into four groups to ease the congestion when negotiating crossing the roads on route.

The Road Safety Team from Bromley were there, as was Dr. Bike (Steve Watkin) to ensure everyones bike was ready for the ride.  We were also lucky to have a couple of guys from St. John’s Ambulance accompanying us on the ride, just in case of any accidents.

We were soon into the park winding our way towards the Waterlink Way.   The sun shone and although it was a little windy it was overall a beautiful sunny day.   We stopped periodically to regroup and everyone was in high spirits.   We had some really young riders this time and everyone managed really well;  we even had a Christiana bike for some of our really young riders.

Picnic in the park with the Olympics seating in the background

Once at Greenwich we stopped in the park to eat our picnic lunch.   There were so many of us that we stopped in various places, some by The Old Brewary, while others made their way further up into the park by the lake, which incidentally will be the water jump on the Olympic cross country course.   The seating for the dressage event was already in place and much of the park is closed off in preparation for the Olympics.

After lunch we set off on our journey back, with many people doing the return journey.

We did stop at the Cafe in Ladywell Fields for an ice cream on the way home, which was most welcome.

Stopping for a well deserved ice cream

Then it was back to Royston Fields where our younger riders were presented with their medals for completing the ride.

Well done to all of you today and our thanks to the ride leaders and marshalls for giving up their time, also the two gentlemen from St. John’s.  We are all looking forward to the next one.